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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048907">Fate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalgate02/pseuds/digitalgate02'>digitalgate02</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Digimon Adventure tri.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:07:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,004</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048907</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalgate02/pseuds/digitalgate02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When he was walking home, Daisuke noticed a strange van following him. At first he thought it was just a mere coincidence, but they stopped right when he reached his apartment complex. He ignored it, but he couldn’t avoid…</p><p>“Are you… Motomiya Daisuke? I know you’re holding a digimon.”</p><p>… That woman in black.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hurry or Jun will eat all the food today!!” Chibimon gave him a light bite on the shoulder.<b><br/>
</b></p><p>“A-ah, that’s right! Mom’s going to make yakisoba today.”</p><p>When he was walking home, Daisuke noticed a strange van following him. At first he thought it was just a mere coincidence, but they stopped right when he reached his apartment complex.</p><p>He ignored it, but he couldn’t avoid…</p><p>“Are you… Motomiya Daisuke? I know you’re holding a digimon.”</p><p>… That woman in black.</p><p>“H-How do you know my name?!” he looked behind, seeing a woman with short brown hair, olive green eyes, mysterious aura… “What’s a digimon?”</p><p>“Don’t play dumb with me,” she said, then smiled “Can we talk for a while, in particular?”</p><p>
  <em>Suspicious…</em>
</p><p>“Don’t worry, I won’t bite or kidnap you as Oikawa Yukio did before with your friend Ichijouji Ken.”</p><p>“How do… How do you know about those…?!” Getting a bit defensive and alarmed, Daisuke held Chibimon tightly as imagining the woman could take his partner away from him “That’s a secret between my friends and the digimon… And our families too! Who told you that?!”</p><p>“Take it easy” she approached from him, “Actually, I’m doing you a favor to keep those covered. Your battles against BelialVamdemon and Diablomon caused such international panic.”</p><p>He frowned.</p><p>“Many children had disappeared in a blink of the eye in December 31st, 2002. Many people saw the Kuramon swarm around Tokyo and the giant digiegg hatching into a new form of Diablomon in March 25th of this year. My job is to cover those incidents to keep the digimon as a secret.”</p><p>“… What do you want from me?” though he was still defensive, staring at her now.</p><p>“Like I said, it’s just a friendly talk. All I request you is to keep it as a secret, until we talk with everyone in your group.”</p><p>“I need to go home, better you make it quick before my mother call the cops.”</p><p>She laughed, it made his blood boil despite him still seeming skeptical outside.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“What is Daisuke wanting from us with this ‘very important meeting’ on Saturday…? I just left middle school to be here, with… Wait, where’s Hikari and Takeru?”</p><p>Miyako kept walking around the place, not sure why did Daisuke ask her and the others to meet under the Akemi bridge INSTEAD of their hideout at Odaiba Elementary School’s computer room. Maybe they couldn’t use that room today? It’s a mystery.</p><p>“I’m not sure” Ken responded with a quiet voice “He didn’t tell me anything than that.”</p><p>“Did he tell Hikari and Takeru, anyway?” Iori questioned “I thought we were a group…”</p><p>“Uh, seems like Hikari’s unable to come” Miyako replied “I’m asking her right now. Takeru is busy as well, I guess it’s the Teen-Age Wolves crisis.”</p><p>“… Crisis…?” the boys asked.</p><p>“No details, Yamato told me to keep it as a secret.”</p><p>“If you say so…” Iori shrugged as Ken kept himself in silence.</p><p>“Heeeeeey y’all!” Daisuke appeared very happy and energetic, waving at the trio “So uh… I have some good and bad news” then that smile and energy vanished like dust.</p><p>They glanced at him with such unpleasant expression in their faces.</p><p>“What did you do this time?”</p><p>“W-why do y'all think it has to be something caused by me?!”</p><p>“Because… Most of the problems we usually get is part of your brilliant plans” Miyako smirked “Have I remind you The Valentine’s Day plans? Or When you told me to open the gate and let all Kuramon swarm escape to the human world?”</p><p>“The gate thing was your fault because I told you to open just one for Ken and me, not a bunch of gates!”</p><p>“If you had followed orders–-”</p><p>“Well I’m NOT the type to follow orders!”</p><p>“We know” Ken commented “You’ve broken a lot of terms and rules. Starting with your manners.”</p><p>“That’s not the thing!” he shouted, then lowered his voice “Taichi told me… To bring our partners to the Digital World. Like, all of them. Hikari’s with him, Takeru too.”</p><p>“What?! Why?!” Miyako panicked "Spill the beans, Daisuke!"</p><p>“… Seems like a lot of ‘undesired’ people started to get into the Digital World again. Grab your ‘mons and come with me. We’re using the gate at the park. A lot of Chosen Children right now is doing it. The Gennai and the Gennai-clones-or-whatever-their-names-were-again are opening the gates around the world.”</p><p>“So it is a goodbye?” Iori frowned, looking at Upamon.</p><p>“Nah, remember we have the power to open and close the gates?” Daisuke showed them his D-3 with a smile “We’re all fine. Can see them every time! So not a ‘goodbye’ and just a ‘see you tomorrow’ in our case.”</p><p>“True!” Miyako chuckled and then hugged Poromon, smashing the poor bird orb “We can still visit them!”</p><p>“… Unless the gate gets closed and we can’t open it” Ken mused “It took me some years to open a gate… And I opened to the Dark Ocean, creating the Dark D-3.”</p><p>“Don’t jinx it, Ken!” Daisuke hissed “Now now, let’s go. Tomorrow’s Sunday so we get a break to grab everyone and do a picnic. THIS time we won’t get attacked by a digimon controlled by a weirdo.”</p><p>Ken sighed, looked at Wormmon and then back to Daisuke.</p><p>“I thought we had forgiven me for what I had done.”</p><p>“Sorry Ken, I didn’t mean it that way!” Daisuke babbled “I mean, some evil guy. Some evil guy!”</p><p>“I was an evil guy that time.”</p><p>“Yeah you were but not anymore! I’m talking about some new evil guy.”</p><p>“To be honest, I never had a picnic with friends before… So it might be fun.”</p><p>“It is, Ken!” Miyako chirped “I’m sure you can get along with everyone a bit better! You’re still new in this group!”</p><p>“Miyako I–”</p><p>“And you can finally chit chat with our cool seniors!” Daisuke added “Like, everyone!”</p><p>“Thanks I guess…”</p><p>“You could… Talk with Taichi and Agumon properly” Iori muttered “I know you’re avoiding them since you joined the group, despite them forgiven you already…”</p><p>“T-that too” Ken gasped “I’m still… scared of talking to him.”</p><p>“NO WAY!” Daisuke gave Ken a friend slap on the back “Taichi’s like a big brother to us! Friendly, funny, supportive… He’s more mature than my sister…”</p><p>“… I don’t feel okay talking with him actually” Ken confessed “When I was the Kaiser, I kidnapped Agumon to study the Evil Ring. I used his digimon partner – his FRIEND – as a guinea pig.”</p><p>“Hey, you had captured, tortured and tried to kill me too” but Daisuke shrugged “And I forgave you. Taichi also forgave you, he sees you as a friend. If you need a hand, leave it to us! We’re pretty good at helping people.”</p><p>“You broke another window yesterday…” Iori squinted his eyes at Daisuke “The principal told you to NOT cause more damages to the school and-–”</p><p>“I meant ‘us’ not ‘me’ because I’m self-aware that I’m a walking disaster”</p><p>“Oh he does know!” Miyako smirked.</p><p>“Now let’s go. I gotta tell Taichi about the picnic plan. And one more thing…”</p><p>“… one more thing?” the trio repeated.</p><p>“Thaaaaaaaaaaat’s confidential, only Taichi must know. Now shush, move!”</p><p>That night, he glanced at the goggles, D-3 and D-terminal lying on the desk. He never had spent time without his digimon partner before. It seemed odd… But since Gennai mentioned… A lot of adults and governments had gotten interested on the Digimon again. The best idea was to… gather all digimon around the human world and keep them in the Digital World for a while.</p><p>Despite that being strange… He couldn’t protest. None of them could. The safety of the digimon was their priority, those monsters are their friends. If the best is to be apart from them but keep them all safe, that would’ve been the right decision to take.</p><p>Still… not the decision Daisuke would’ve taken. </p><p>“Tomorrow I’ll find Gennai and told him to let everyone have at least our power to open the gate” he muttered to himself, “ ‘Cuz I find it unfair…! They’re our friends, our family too.”</p><p>“… I’d have fought everyone who dares to use V-mon for evil purposes.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Koushiro, how do you… Talk properly with people?”</p><p>“I’m… Not good at it” Koushiro had an awkward response “I try my best.”</p><p>“Man if I ever had to use all those formal forms i’d have gotten crazy!”</p><p>“Please mind your wording.”</p><p>“S-sorry. I came here to ask… How can I request Gennai to let everyone be able to see their partners at least once by week?”</p><p>“I’m not sure, but there’s not many gates around the Digital World, and the number of Chosen Children has been multiplying year by year. At this pace, in less than 25 years we will get a good percentage of the human world partnered with a digimon.”</p><p>“Speak my language please. Or English.”</p><p>“I meant this number has been growing too quickly, might everyone get a partner digimon in a short time. Is it easier to catch now Daisuke?”</p><p>“Hmm… That’s a problem, don’t ya think?”</p><p>“Exactly. If last year we had a case of a Chosen taunted by the evil forces, Ichijouji Ken’s case… I do not want to imagine what could’ve happened with a digimon getting in the hands of corrupt people.”</p><p>“… It could’ve caused a war” Daisuke mused, eyes staring at the ground “It could’ve destroyed homes, lives… The worlds.”</p><p>“That’s what Gennai thought. Once he and his comrades erased the human world govenments' bank data about the Digimon and the DigiWorld, we will get our partners back. So don’t worry about tha-–”</p><p>“No, I care. I can open the gate!” he got up from Koushiro’s bed, fists clenching “You can’t! None of you with a normal digivice can! Only those with a D-3 are able to-–”</p><p>“If the gate is opened, we can use them, don’t get panicked.”</p><p>“Yeah but if is closed, only a D-3 can open it! You analyzed it before, so this means a D-3 user has more opportunity to see their partner any time than a regular digivice user!”</p><p>“Actually… I’ve analyzed those new D-3 from the kids, who Oikawa had kidnapped, days ago… They can’t open the gate at all.”</p><p>Daisuke blinked. Was he wrong about that model?!</p><p>“W-wait…!? A-are you sayin’ only Ken, Miyako, Iori, Takeru and Hikari can open the gates freely?!”</p><p>“As I can assume, yes. That power had only given to you six.”</p><p>“W-why?! Everyone should’ve been able to–”</p><p>“Actually not. Giving all this power to a large group could’ve gone wrong. Imagine a scenario where everyone can open and close the gate. If in wrong hands, that power could’ve led to enormous troubles. But, keeping it just between six users might control it.”</p><p>“I know you’re all intelligent, but this means nothing” and he sat on the bed again, pouting “Because if one of us let our digivice get stolen we might cause the SAME problem.”</p><p>“I do think you’re responsible enough to avoid that”</p><p>“Huh… You’re sayin’ it to comfort me…? Like, why…?”</p><p>“I know you mess things up, but at the same time you find a solution. Also, you’re hard to be beaten, I guess it was you who said it to be honest…”</p><p>“Did I… say it…?”</p><p>“Yes. Tentomon told me.”</p><p>“OH, it might have been one of those encounters with Arukenimon!”</p><p>“Don’t lose your mind, don’t overthink about it either.”</p><p>“Right, right. I won’t face Gennai and tell him a piece of my mind.”</p><p>“Thank goodness, I would like you to not turn our allies into our enemies. Just do the opposite of that, which is also one of your specialties.”</p><p>“Hehe, thank you!”</p><p>“If only you six can open it… You can open it for everyone.”</p><p>“I didn’t… think about that…”</p><p>Koushiro sighed, but in relief. Then chuckled.</p><p>“As the usual…”</p><p>Daisuke blushed, embarrassed by all that fuss he almost had caused. At least Koushiro had prevented him from it. And everything had been okay…</p><p>
  <b>… Til that day, in the next year.</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is a 5-part short story i had written last year (July 26, 2019) in which was me trying to figure things out for "DigiTimeLines project" , and something else I guess.<br/>Ah, you might notice the beginning is the same from "Lady of the Castle series" where it ends with the beginning of this part one.</p><p>While I did not like the last part (i'm fixing it so it will take a while), I enjoyed the way the previous parts were written. This is my theories in a format of a story.<br/>We all know it won't end well, but... At least I tried to make it enjoyable and fun.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The whole room became silent, the only sound heard there was the computer’s CPU noises. Koushiro was somehow desperately trying to solve said issue, and the rest of the group looked at each other. One by one, they moved to another side of the room, with only Miyako and Iori staying on Koushiro’s side.</p><p>Ken was there, with Takeru and watching Taichi from the distance. Despite all the times they had spent together, every single time Ken is closer to Taichi gives him a bit of anxiety. More for now, as he had those wild Kaiser memories coming in his mind recently. He feared… Feared of the Dark Spore working all again.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Heavy atmosphere in his dreams had caused some discomfort to Ken, who believed that <em>that</em> being a premonition about some bad omen falling upon him and his friends. But why… Why that dream had so memories of…<b><br/></b></p><p>… That one time he had heard about the lore of the Digital World, in his Digimon Kaiser days. Tales and myths about Homeostasis and the deities of that world. As first, he learned about ENIAC, who was supposed to be the god of the Digimon, but missing pieces in his memory brought another name as well.</p><p>A Nordic name.</p><p>He opened his eyes, his heart racing. Waking up from that dream, he examined the whole room, trying to find some oddity in the place. And after realizing everything was okay he felt relieved.</p><p>But that dream… He had to… Search something right now.<br/>Then he went down the bed stairs and turned the computer on.</p><p>“I-gu-do-ra-shi-ru”</p><p>he typed those in katakana, and then went over all night reading, learning about that mysterious word that came into that dream.</p><p>“… Yggdrasil. The giant ash tree connecting nine worlds. Norse mythology.”</p><p>Despite him losing most of that superhuman intelligence from the Kaiser days, Ken did his best to understand the links between Yggdrasil and the DigiWorld. Maybe he could ask Koushiro later–-</p><p>“… No, I have to investigate it by myself first. If I tell them I’m having those lost memories from the time I was their enemy… It might ruin our relationship.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Can’t get wrong with some snacks and a trip in the Digital World, huh?”</p><p>“After a long time with school exams disturbing my peace, seeing Agumon today will be good.”</p><p>“And I can finally tell V-mon about those orange flavored chocolate. He loves chocolate, did ya know?”</p><p>“You could let me try those too, Daisuke… I swear I won’t eat them all!”</p><p>“Not yet! We’re gathering! First! Then goin’ to the Digital World!”</p><p>“Where’s the Daisuke who would’ve said ‘here, have two Taichi my beloved senior’ instead?”</p><p>“I don’t do that!” Daisuke blushed “A-also I’m not a child anymore, I’m a middle school student now!”</p><p>“Sure sure…” Taichi chuckled “Hope our friends aren’t mad for waiting all of this time.”</p><p>They stopped in front of the computer room in the Middle School, sliding the door calmly to the side. Taichi and Daisuke’s smiles had disappeared when they met some gloomy energy coming from the others.</p><p>“C-Can’t you do anything, Izumi?!”</p><p>“I’m trying Mi-Miyako!!”</p><p>Why were they… </p><p>“Miyako,” Daisuke frowned “What’s wrong?”</p><p>“The gate is closed” Takeru responded instead “The D-3 is not working.”</p><p>“What?!” both Daisuke and Taichi exclaimed.</p><p>“We don’t know what’s going on,” Hikari added, “Koushiro is trying to discover what is the issue.”</p><p>“How?!” Daisuke babbled “We were there before! Like, not going every single day but…”</p><p>“Please!” Koushiro screamed “Everyone, calm down!”</p><p>The whole room became silent, the only sound heard there was the computer’s CPU noises. Koushiro was somehow desperately trying to solve said issue, and the rest of the group looked at each other. One by one, they moved to another side of the room, with only Miyako and Iori staying on Koushiro’s side.</p><p>Ken was there, with Takeru and watching Taichi from the distance. Despite all the times they had spent together, every single time Ken is closer to Taichi gives him a bit of anxiety. More for now, as he had those wild Kaiser memories coming in his mind recently. He feared… Feared of the Dark Spore working all again.</p><p>“Hey Ichijouji.”</p><p>He felt his heart skip a heartbeat by hearing Taichi talking directly to him.</p><p>“Have you tried with your D-3?”</p><p>“I uh… Y-yeah, I tried” Ken felt butterflies in his stomach “N-None of our digivices could open it…”</p><p>“Then, Daisuke. You’re our only hope.”</p><p>“W-what, me??”</p><p>“You make miracles happen! Bless us with your dumb luck.”</p><p>“I… I…!!”</p><p>Daisuke nodded, approached from the screen and pointed the blue D-3 to the gate. With such determined glare, the boy shouted the passcode.</p><p>“Digital Gate, OPEN!!”</p><p>… But nothing had happened.</p><p>“W-wait…?! Huh?! I gonna try it again! Digital Gate, OPEN!”</p><p>Taichi was shocked, a little pale by the bad news. If none of the six can open the gate, he won’t be able to see Agumon again. None of them will. Only when the gate opens again, and now that he had no idea when it will be this ‘next time’ , it caused him discomfort--</p><p><em>Despair.</em><br/>That discomfort he felt was definitely Despair.</p><p>“Might be a malfunction” Koushiro deduced, “It can be an issue in the gate itself. I will contact mr. Gennai as soon as possible and report it. Please, be patient for a while.”</p><p>“Okay, so no worries!” Daisuke nodded, then presented everyone with a chocolate bar “Those were for V-mon, but I can buy more later. Ah, here Taichi it might cheer you up.”</p><p>Taichi took the sweet from Daisuke’s hand, but still petrified by that news.</p><p>Ken whispered to himself something, but no one caught it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“… Taichi, can I talk to you for a while…?”</p><p>They – The Yagami siblings and Daisuke – were going home together, but the silence between them was prevailing until that one question coming from Daisuke.</p><p>Taichi and Hikari realized he had stopped walking, looked behind and curiosity hit them hard. Those bad news had made everything dark and monochrome, especially making <em>him</em> sad. Daisuke felt like he had disappointed Taichi and everyone, because he had been the leader and everything had been in his hands…!</p><p>He felt so much distress with everything…! He couldn’t have saved Chocomon as he had promised to Wallace! He couldn’t have opened the gate now! Why… Why can’t he keep his promises?!</p><p>“Hikari, go home” Taichi glanced at his sister “I’ll catch you up in a bit.”</p><p>“Are you… Sure?” Hikari felt concerned about both boys.</p><p>“Please, go.”</p><p>She nodded and left. Taichi returned to watch Daisuke, now his little friend had taken off the goggles, put them definitely around the neck. Head down, eyes covered by his hair bangs, and avoiding Taichi's as well. It was a sad scene, shattering Taichi’s heart by just looking at him.</p><p>“… I’m sorry.”</p><p>“It’s not your fault.”</p><p>“I should’ve told Gennai to let us find another way to deal with those mean people trying to get our digimon friends.”</p><p>“I said it’s not your fault–”</p><p>“I was our only hope and… And I…”</p><p>“DAISUKE!”</p><p>Daisuke looked at Taichi, widen eyes. Tears running through his face, still refusing to accept defeat. There was so many things going through Daisuke’s mind at that moment he couldn’t word any of them.</p><p>“It’s not your fault, I assure you.”</p><p>But even Taichi telling him that wasn’t enough.</p><p>“Don’t blame yourself, don’t be harsh with yourself.”</p><p>“I’m… I’m not… I’m not giving up!”</p><p>“Dai–”</p><p>“I will open that gate, even if I need to use that one option…!”</p><p>“Wait, 'that' what?”</p><p>And Daisuke left running, leaving Taichi behind. The older boy felt unable to process what had happened, and decided the best for now was to go home.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>“I know you don’t trust me yet, but I can help with anything you need.”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“… Ma’am, I’m not really sure about it. You work for the government. You’re the least person we can count on. The Digimon is a secret because people like you would’ve used them for war and other bad things is been revealed to this world!”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“I’m aware of those concerns, though this organization had been created for covering the digimon cases, studying them and keep your identities as secret.”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“… What do you mean with THAT?”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“I meant we’re your allies, not mercenaries or corrupted people seeking for power. Most of those cases had been changed its description to protect the digimon.”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“Well, let’s put it in this way: That didn’t help. My sister and a bunch of people were still sure the monsters from Summer 1999 were real! Not some weirdo kidnapping the whole Odaiba for the sake of something else! Fuji TV’s building got destroyed!”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“Ah yes, yes. Though, the Eight children and now Inoue Miyako, Hida Iori, Ichijouji Ken and you are still safe from the media. Am I wrong?”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“No but…”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“Then, our job has been helping you twelve.”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“… Fine…”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“Ah, it must be late for you to be outside, right? If you need a little hand, call me by this number.”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“Ok, I guess.”</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>… The scene of that last year’s encounter with the government agent came back in his mind. Her voice… And the most important line was…</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>If you need a little hand, call me by this number.</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>That business card was shiny and formal, kept inside his desktop drawer. He grabbed it from there and stared at the number. Maybe he could tell someone about that plan… That risky plan…</p><p><em>“Daisuke,”</em> he heard his mother’s voice, <em>“your friend Ken is on the phone…!”</em></p><p>Nevermind… He put the number inside the drawer and left his room.</p><p>“Hey Ken… Whaddya want?”</p><p>
  <em>“Uh, Daisuke I…”</em>
</p><p>“Spill the beans, Ken. You only use the phone when it’s urgent.”</p><p>
  <em>“… I had a bad dream before. And some of my memories as the Kaiser…”</em>
</p><p>“Have they returned…? A-are you feelin’ okay?!”</p><p>
  <em>“I am, don’t worry. It’s just… Some old memories, memories I had locked to forgive myself.”</em>
</p><p>“Memories does not mean you’re becoming a tyrant again. Right?”</p><p>
  <em>“Of course I’m not going to! But… I want to keep it as a secret for now. I’m researching about some of those memories though. Something caught my attention.”</em>
</p><p>“What is it…?”</p><p>
  <em>“I’m not sure yet. I will tell you when I discover something more. Please keep it as a secret.”</em>
</p><p>“Sure, no need to ask it twice or thrice!”</p><p>
  <em>“Thanks, now I will dine. See you tomorrow.”</em>
</p><p>“Cya!”</p><p>He found that strange and curious, especially because It had been two years since the Kaiser fall. Ken had been going well, not excellent but the average ‘good’ at school and life. His friend had been enjoying spending time with him and the others, despite the unknown reason Ken had to avoid direct contact with Taichi.</p><p>If now Ken has those issues, he mused about Ken isolating from the group and omit all those thoughts. The other could’ve accused him from something, and he wouldn’t have liked to see his friends attacking his best friend.</p><p>However, Daisuke shoved those thoughts away and went to dine as well.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>From the many nights he had tried to sleep without thinking about Upamon, that one was the worst of them. He had some delusions, thinking he heard something. Thinking he saw something. He needed to relax and not worry about his digimon partner, or wish to have Upamon around.</p><p>It’s the new reality.<br/>He had to accept it.</p><p>“I can’t.”</p><p>Being the youngest of the group yet the most mature of the six, Iori had much more control over emotions than no one… Except when he lose that control. He’s not skeptical like Ken, or a person to speak with his heart like Daisuke and Miyako, but he somehow has a side filled with feelings, where his heart speaks for himself and not his mind.</p><p>“I miss him… I miss everyone.”</p><p>Now, a child like him suffering with the loss of his father til' now… Having to cope with the fact Upamon wasn’t there to be a companion, or his emotional support. Not that he couldn’t count on his grandpa, mother and friends… BUT Upamon was the closest of them all in the way Upamon seemed to be a ‘part’ of him.</p><p>And Iori could guess he wasn’t the only one to suffer with that forced separation the fate had decided for them all.</p><p>Especially when Daisuke had sent a message at that hour of the night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>• Ken definitely had blocked memories through 02 imo, and those memories may someday surface again. <br/>Also I wrote Yggdrasil in romaji because I think it sounded better than "Ygg-dra-sil" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯<br/>Btw, i did some research for that (and the next) parts regarding it. I'm not just using dumb MCU movies memory for things. Thanks Wikipedia for helping me here lol</p><p>• At this point in the story, it's 2004 just saying. I didn't give an specific date for those events, but the picnic mentioned in part 1 had already happened and they had other quick visit sessions to play and chat with their digimon.</p><p>• Despite Miyako being hella bad at conveying her emotions, she's known for speaking what's inside her mind just like Daisuke. They're quite of similar imo.<br/>And yes, Daisuke wasn't sleeping so decided to mass message the 02 kids with his <i>plan</i></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>That message had been sent to just the other five, not for Taichi or any older kid. First, Daisuke wanted to test it out. He wouldn’t want to bug Taichi about that if it does not work, and leaving Taichi out of something wasn’t that unusual.<b><br/></b></p><p>And she was aware of that.<br/>Miyako may not be a brilliant genius child, but she has sharp eyes and mind. May lose control over her emotions and get panicked easily, BUT she’s able to notice when Daisuke is actually wavering or on the verge of doing something reckless.</p><p>No wonder she’s the one with the guts to face him, sometimes being quite rude as him.<br/>Still, she’s more polite and careful when in harmony with herself.</p><p>“What is he planning to do?”</p><p>That message caught her, caused some curiosity and she called Hikari. They were discussing about it, and wondering what he meant with the only option they have now.</p><p>It’s strange seeing Daisuke lose his mind, and the last time he had lost it… He had became corrupted by his own negative feelings, dark evolving himself into his version of the Digimon Kaiser. It hadn’t been a big deal because Ken had stopped Daisuke Kaiser in time. HOWEVER, they had questioned about that ‘incident’ a couple of times when Daisuke hadn’t been around or spending time with other friends.</p><p>How far can Motomiya Daisuke go when under pressure and being so desperate?</p><p>“I think he needs to chill” Miyako told Hikari, “We’re doing our best trying to discover what’s going on, why the gate cannot be opened. But we all know who he is, and that he won’t stop until one of us tell him to get over it.”</p><p>“True…” Hikari, who decided to visit Miyako instead of just chatting via phone, nodded. Yet, she frowned “Daisuke… He only listens to three people in this whole world, when it’s not his parents.”</p><p>“Taichi, Ken and you.”</p><p>“I could talk with him, but…”</p><p>“But…?”</p><p>“… I’m not sure if he will hear me out” she sighed.</p><p>“Why?! You’re his crush, and he always changes his behavior when you’re around.”</p><p>“I refused his invite to go to the beach once… He’s still acting weird around me and Takeru… He leaves or avoid us when we’re together.”</p><p>“So, you think your charm cannot work on him anymore…?!”</p><p>“Probably not…”</p><p>“That simpleton will get a piece of my mind when I meet him-–”</p><p>“No, please…! I think he believes I rejected him and that I like Takeru.”</p><p>She blushed a little, Miyako couldn’t understand why. Hikari was totally uncomfortable with that behavior of Daisuke. But why?</p><p>“… I don’t want to reject him or Takeru, it’s just… I want us to stay together but as friends.”</p><p>Miyako gasped in silence, she doesn’t understand that well because Daisuke never had shown interest on her. Not a romantic interest! So, Hikari’s situation seemed… Unknown for her.</p><p>“I don’t know what to say” Miyako muttered.</p><p>“It’s okay. I never had gotten a lot of male friends before, just him and Takeru. And Taichi’s male friends.”</p><p>“I see… You know Daisuke before than Takeru…?”</p><p>“He was my classmate. Still is, apparently.”</p><p>“So you know him pretty well huh…?” Miyako giggled.</p><p>“I don’t like when he’s arguing with Takeru. I thought they had became friends when they first met at school but… Somehow he felt jealous of Takeru.”</p><p>“I can see why, he likes you.”</p><p>“… He was different from the first time I met him, somehow he… Absorbed a bit of Taichi-ness when he befriended my brother. Goggles and such. But he also reminds me a lot of Yamato too.”</p><p>Hikari glanced at the ground for a while, making Miyako wonder what was happening inside that little girl’s mind.</p><p>“… But now he just… acts a bit… different. And more after the day we couldn’t open the gate.”</p><p>“It’s not his fault but that airhead will fight us alleging it is” Miyako shook her head.</p><p>“He takes everything seriously” she looked at Miyako “Because he cannot stand seeing people sad or disappointed.”</p><p>That made sense, especially after all those times Daisuke had tried something to cheer them up, or had fought the group to accept Ken, or how he had tried to save Chocomon for the sake of Wallace’s happy ending…</p><p>“That idiot!” She growled. Then left the room, grabbed the phone and dialed Daisuke’s number.</p><p>“Wh-what are you going to do?!” Hikari came after her, panicked.</p><p>“I’m going to hell him the truth. That he does not need to overdo because of a dumb closed digital gate.”</p><p>Too late.<br/>He had been caught by that woman.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I wonder what you want to tell us, because I’m busy.”</p><p>“All of us are, to be honest Ichijouji.”</p><p>“It’s Daisuke, it has to be something stupid-–”</p><p>All of the three waited on the SAME place again, under the Akemi bridge, after school and months after the closure of the gate.</p><p>“Where’s Hikari and Takeru?” Ken asked the others “I think he called them too.”</p><p>“Hikari is at a friend’s house” Miyako stated.</p><p>“Takeru is busy with Yamato” Iori replied “I guess it’s the said ‘Teen-Age Wolves crisis’ Miyako mentioned once…”</p><p>“That is still going on, I think they’re going to disband… Don’t tell Daisuke’s sister about it please.”</p><p>“We won’t, for sure…” Ken had imagined how chaotic it would’ve been, but maybe his whole point of view about Motomiya Jun was solely based on Daisuke’s rants and descriptions.</p><p>A messy haired boy with goggles lying on his neck popped in, with a woman behind him.</p><p>“Hey y’all” he announced “I’ve got this…! We’re ready to finally make things be like before!”</p><p>They frowned.</p><p>“Where’s Hikari and Takeru…?” he looked around, trying to find the other two.</p><p>“They couldn’t come” Miyako responded, “What do you mean with ‘make things be like before’ Daisuke?”</p><p>“We can open the gate all again!” He grinned “Thanks to mrs. Himekawa we can solve whatever is happening and then get our partners back!” </p><p>“Mrs. Himekawa?” they said in unison.</p><p>“Uh, her…!” Daisuke pointed at the woman next to him with his thumb “She contacted me a year ago for a talk, said y’all would get in touch with her later and if I had any issue she could lend a hand.”</p><p>“Daisuke… What?” Ken squinted his eyes.</p><p>“She works for an org. protecting us and the digimon from media and scandals. That’s why we never had a bunch of people coming after us…!”</p><p><em>“Suspicious…”</em> Iori thought, unable to word his own opinion.</p><p>“A-anyway… At first I had my own disbeliefs, but there’s no time for that. Any help is welcome.”</p><p>“Daisuke, ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Miyako yelled “Didn’t you learn ANYTHING from two years ago?!”</p><p>“Look, mr. Oikawa wasn’t a meanie! He had been possessed by Vamdemon!”</p><p>“I… I would like you two to not use mr. Oikawa as example of bad people” Iori said with a low voice, making Miyako and Daisuke look at him for a few seconds.</p><p>“I’m sorry/My bad Iori” and then they said together.</p><p>“I don’t mind you distrusting me” Himekawa, the woman in black, replied with a smile “I’m here to assist you, if you don’t need my services then we have no reason to continue.”</p><p>“W-wait!” Daisuke babbled “We need your help, really! They’re like that because… The only adults we could ask for help were our parents and relatives.”</p><p>“We had a reason to not share our secret with strangers…” Ken was skeptical, as the usual.</p><p>“Please, stop using mr. Oikawa as example of bad person…!” Iori raised his voice “He was my late father’s best friend, and…”</p><p>“We don’t mean mr. Oikawa” Ken explained “We meant the troubles we had around the world to prevent governments to put their hands in the wild digimon released in the human world by Arukenimon and Mummymon.”</p><p>“That’s what I meant,” Miyako added.</p><p>“But guys,” Daisuke protested “She’s no stranger to us!”</p><p>“She is!” the three replied.</p><p>Then, Himekawa used her trump card, the only piece able to convince a bunch of teens that she wasn’t their enemy, but more one of them.</p><p>She took the device from her blazer pocket and showed it to the children. None of them believed it. Especially because they never had heard of an adult with a digivice before – Oikawa was the ‘first’ ‘last’ and ‘only’ adult they had known.</p><p>“What?!” they exclaimed as Daisuke kept in silence.</p><p>“She’s one of the first Chosen Children” then he told them “At first I didn’t believe it til she showed me the digivice, and I carefully asked Koushiro if Taichi’s group were the first human children in the DigiWorld…”</p><p>“… I think I heard about it before” Ken mused “Five Chosen Children, The Holy Beasts… But I wasn’t sure. D-don’t ask me how I know those!”</p><p>“I can give you a help to open the gate” Himekawa interrupted them “That would make you kids happy again, I suppose.”</p><p>“Yeah, and you can then see your partner digimon again!” Daisuke smiled “How they are? Can we meet them?! What kind of digimon they evolve to?!”</p><p>Miyako exchanged a few glances with Iori and Ken, but she seemed relieved now.</p><p>“Well, if she’s our oldest senior, maybe we can trust her.”</p><p>“I don’t think she’s evil, just… intimidating?” </p><p>It took no more than three seconds to have Miyako join Daisuke’s babbling. But Iori saw Ken keep quiet and in the same place, observing the scene, theorizing and assuming things.</p><p>“Ichijouji…?”</p><p>Ken had a pause from that brainstorm to notice Iori calling him.</p><p>“Are you ok?”</p><p>“Y-yes, I am…”</p><p>“I have kendo practice today” he said to the others “If you excuse me…”</p><p>“Iori I’m going with you” Ken announced “I remembered I have to do something today… Now if you excuse me as well, I’m going.”</p><p>“Right, we meet here tomorrow” Daisuke waved at the boys who had been leaving.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Iori and Ken were walking through the streets together, in silence for a while. One lost in his thoughts, the other curious about what he was thinking of.</p><p>“Iori…”</p><p>Ah, he finally spoke.</p><p>“That woman seems suspicious” Ken said it and then shut up.</p><p>“… Why do you think that?” he wanted to not sound aggressive, but couldn’t word that better “I… I think she’s not malicious.”</p><p>“She reminds me my past-self. I’m not trusting her at all…”</p><p>“… I see, despite her not seeming to be a bad person… I do agree with you.”</p><p>“We need to investigate it. Daisuke might have some information about her, but he’s too naive to realize something odd.”</p><p>“Hm… He said she contacted him last year… And this year the gate closed from all of a sudden.”</p><p>“And now he decided to call for her help… Do you see it?”</p><p>“Do you think… She closed our access to the Digital World?”</p><p>“Like Miyako always says…”</p><p>
  <em>… Bingo.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>• It's obvious Daisuke is some kind of old friend from Taichi and Hikari (probably from Sora and Koushiro too) and Miyako might never learned that before, just assumed Daisuke knew Hikari as neighbors (remember, Daisuke lives in the same residencial complex buildings as Yagamis, Sora and Yamato. And if you look at the map you will realize Odaiba is small so everyone probably live closer to each other... EXCEPT Ken, who lives in Tamachi. There existed a wesite with real life facts and a map marking each residence, but sadly is gone.)</p><p>• My assumption is that, to gain Daisuke's trust Maki revealed her being a Chosen Child from the past. Not only that, but also mentioned about being part of the Original group that came BEFORE Taichi's.</p><p>• Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand a Ken-Iori exchange because 02 never gave us enough of it. Ah, and just them connecting the dots. <i>Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe i'm implying that  Maki and Dark Gennai have the power to close/open the gates. Who knows??</i></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Why didn’t Ken tell Daisuke…? It’s not distrust but rather he wanted solid proof first. Daisuke is not the kind to use brains all the time, so he’s easily manipulated and fooled than anyone else. A long time ago, the Kaiser had debated about fooling one of those children and see if they would join his side. But all that pride and ego had made the Kaiser drop that idea. Now that Ken is Ken and not the Kaiser…</p><p>… He feared of Daisuke doing a terrible mistake. So here he was, trying his best to prevent a fatal mistake taken by his best friend and lead.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ken and Iori had met with Daisuke in the next day, going out with him around Odaiba. Ken, knowing how easy is to take information from Daisuke when you’re his jogress partner AND best friend, convinced the boys to visit Joypolis to forget about school and digimon stuff.<b><br/>
</b></p><p>All of that was part of the detective Ichijouji’s plan.</p><p>“So, what do you want to know about her…?” Daisuke asked “All I know is that she’s one of us, works for an organization specialized in digimon cases and she works hard to keep our identities and secrets safe.”</p><p>“So she does know all of us already…” Iori mused.</p><p>“Actually it made me freak out when she said my name, y’all names and mentioned some of the events we were involved with.”</p><p>“Do you have any contact information?” Ken asked.</p><p>“Oh, she… She apparently gave me a business card when we first met. It says her position in the org. and her full name as well. Veeeeeeery fancy by the way.”</p><p>“… Can you please let me take a look at it?” alas, the main question.</p><p>“Sure, we can go home right now. My parents are visiting my grandparents, and Jun’s at the work at the moment.”</p><p>“Ichijouji, should we…”</p><p>“Not now Iori” Ken interrupted him, “Yes please. I’d like to see if is the same person who contacted me before. Maybe I’m misremembering, but I may be wrong.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Incorporated Administrative Agency National Data Processing Bureau Information Strategy Section Information Management Office, Officer Himekawa Maki.</em>
</p><p>That was what written in that business card, given by Daisuke so Ken could examine it. </p><p>“Ah, Daisuke! I need some culinary tips…!” The young boy said, pushing Daisuke out of the room “I’ve been trying to make curry by myself when mom and grandpa aren’t home but… I’m still not good at it.”</p><p>“Sure, I will give you some advice since curry’s my second favorite dish! First you…”</p><p>The plan was… Send those info to Miyako, and see what she could get from those. Knowing Inoue Miyako is not only an ordinary technician but also able to hack everything she desires or needs to.</p><p>Although Miyako was a little interested on Himekawa, she wasn’t buying that friendly face at all. This means only Daisuke was a fool to believe Himekawa won’t harm them, at least now.</p><p>Ken took that moment to write down a message to Miyako with all the information stated in the business card, and hit ‘send’ when he had finished typing. He was so sure Miyako could do it, investigate Himekawa’s data and reveal what was bugging him.</p><p><em>“Hey Ken!”</em> He heard Daisuke’s voice, <em>“If you’re trying to prank me, better you give up ‘cuz I’m better than you!”</em></p><p>“No way!” Ken babbled to mask his plan “Also, I’m hungry let’s eat something and call it a day.”</p><p>Why didn’t Ken tell Daisuke…? It’s not distrust but rather he wanted solid proof first. Daisuke is not the kind to use brains all the time, so he’s easily manipulated and fooled than anyone else. A long time ago, the Kaiser had debated about fooling one of those children and see if they would join his side. But all that pride and ego had made the Kaiser drop that idea. Now that Ken is Ken and not the Kaiser…</p><p>… He feared of Daisuke doing a terrible mistake. So here he was, trying his best to prevent a fatal mistake taken by his best friend and lead.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“YOSH!” Miyako’s eyes were covered by flames, her excitement and thirst for the truth had consumed her soul.</p><p>“M-Miyako… Take it easy…!!” Iori blinked.</p><p>“There’s no time to waste! If we could see the deep secrets behind the badass mrs. Himekawa, then I will do it! FOR! THE! TRUTH!”</p><p>“Is she always like that?” Ken asked Iori.</p><p>“I thought you had heard about the time she climbed a Dark Tower with her bare hands…”</p><p>
  <em>“SEARCH… START!”</em>
</p><p>“She WHAT?!”</p><p>“She was determined to beat you and save the DigiWorld that she ended up almost hurt…”</p><p>
  <em>“GO GO GO GO GO! MIYAKO HACKING… POWER!!”</em>
</p><p>“W-WAIT, now I remember of it… I… I prefer to… Forget that it was my fault that Hawkmon got hurt…”</p><p>“It’s in the past, but we all wanted to punch you in the face for that.”</p><p>
  <em>“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACKING POWEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!”</em>
</p><p>“I… I see. That’s probably one of the reasons Takeru punched me in the first place.”</p><p>“Did he…?”</p><p>
  <em>“MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUP–”</em>
</p><p>Someone knocked furiously on Miyako’s room door. The three felt a chill down their spines.<br/>
The door opened revealing…</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“HEY WHAT THE HECK YOU ALL GATHERED HERE WITHOUT ME?!”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>… Daisuke.</p><p> “W-we were going to tell you later!” Iori babbled “I’m sorry, D-Daisuke!”</p><p>“What are you doing…?”</p><p>“HACKING MISSION!” Miyako energetically shouted “Hacking. Hacking!”</p><p>“Hacking… Who? Is it Takeru? Can I join–”</p><p>“Uh, no. It’s not Takeru” Miyako said normally now “We’re checking out who Himekawa Maki is and see if she’s telling us the truth. She can simply confiscated a Chosen Child’s digivice, made a replica and used it to lure us.”</p><p>“I… I’m not saying I totally trust her, but she’s our only hope…!”</p><p>“Daisuke, listen” Ken stared at him “Someone who knows our identities and a lot about us can’t be trusted. What if she is another victim of an evil digimon pulling the strings?”</p><p>“Ichijouji’s right” Iori added “I don’t think she is a bad person, but any enemy of us can try to use a human to do bad things. Like Vamdemon did with mr. Oikawa”</p><p>While Miyako was working, the boys had a bit of tension right there. Daisuke wanted to believe he had finally met one of the Original Chosen, after hearing from Koushiro about their legend. Ken was still not buying whatever Himekawa had said, so he convinced Iori and Miyako to assist him. And Iori, good and sane boy, wanting so much to find the good in Himekawa.</p><p>“AHA! I got something!” Miyako called the boys’ attention, making them all move closer to her computer “So that Himekawa Maki’s org. is involved with a lot of coverage from digimon cases we had been involved. Since… 1999?”</p><p>Miyako was reading those carefully.</p><p>“She also had some projects, is a digimon researcher. Wow she’s really smart.”</p><p>“I think we don’t need to worry about her, right” Daisuke was relieved “No evil person would’ve done those things for us.”</p><p>“Hmm, you may be right” Ken mused “Still… I think we should keep an eye on her.”</p><p>“Should we tell the others…?” Iori questioned the group “This is something that involves them too…”</p><p>“We can talk with them later,” Daisuke stepped back and sat on Miyako’s bed “Y’know, if mrs. Himekawa can open the gate for us… Or help us to tell mr. Gennai to freaking open it again, I’ll be thankful.”</p><p>“Oooh, he’s doing it because of Taichi!” Miyako rolled her eyes.</p><p>“I… I’m not doing only for him!” he blushed “It’s more about everyone. I can’t let them get separated from their partners, and i meant you three too. To stop those tears, I have to change this decision the Digital World had taken.”</p><p>“It’s NOT your responsibility nor your fault!” Ken hissed “I’m so tired of your pulling that card! You said I shouldn’t do things alone and to trust my friends, then why are you taking it like if it’s all in your hands?!”</p><p>“Because It WAS in my hands! And thanks for not handling it well, Gennai and some digigods decided to punish us all like that! I thought we six could open the gate for everyone and then let any Chosen Child around the world see their partner, but now we can’t!”</p><p>“Guys, please…!” Miyako interrupted them “It’s no one’s fault. Daisuke, it’s not your fault. It’s something out of your reach. Ken, Daisuke’s pretty distressed right now because he can’t live without V-mon anymore.”</p><p>“We all can’t live without our partners” Iori corrected her “I have trouble to sleep well lately.” </p><p>Another silent moment in the room.</p><p>“W-well, we have a plan right now” Daisuke said “We team up with mrs. Himekawa for now, keep an eye on her. If we discover something odd, then we tell the others and take some action.”</p><p>“We need to act naturally,” Ken added “Anything suspicious from our part and she will find out.”</p><p>“Okay but shouldn’t we tell the others…?” Iori questioned again.</p><p>Daisuke looked at the goggles before replying, he felt conflicted by several reasons to tell and other several to not to. Taichi is a High School student right now, so were the rest. Hikari and Takeru are from his class and keeping them out of this would’ve been wrong. However, would’ve been they able to hide information from Taichi and Yamato?</p><p>“… Let’s keep it as a secret mission” He glanced at Ken “There’s something we cannot tell them, to not let the others feel mad at Ken.”</p><p>“Huh?” Miyako and Iori blinked.</p><p>“Trust me, we have to do it by ourselves.”</p><p>Ken felt thankful that Daisuke had not mentioned about the strange memory being regained from the Kaiser days, that one about… That Norse ash tree name he had searched once.</p><p>The months had been passed, and while the Twelve had to cope with the new life without going to the Digital World for some mission or spending time with their digimon partners, the four kept working with Himekawa, in secret.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
M.H: Those kids are the key…?<br/>
G.N: Yes. They are.<br/>
M.H: All of them…?<br/>
G.N: No. For now, just one.<br/>
M.H: Who?<br/>
G.N: You will know when the time come.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A new year has begun.<br/>
The Twelve kept in touch, but slowly Daisuke was staying away from Taichi and Hikari. Something odd, but they believed it was because Daisuke had been focused on school once the school year has started.</p><p>None of them had idea of what was happening.</p><p>“The gate…!”</p><p>After three months of research and attempts, Himekawa was able to open the gate. It was a success and the quartet finally felt things changing for the better.</p><p>However…</p><p>“The gate is open again, but for a short time. Can I request you four for something in favor?”</p><p>Ken felt nervous at that question. Miyako and Iori as well, but Daisuke…</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>His serene expression outside was something anyone could envy about him. No matter how hard things are going, Daisuke’s stoicism was incredible.</p><p>“A digimon is on the loose by what I noticed in the reports. Could you kids… capture it for me?”</p><p>“Right, we will get more info about the digimon with you, and then we will ask Koushiro for–-”</p><p>“No, just you four. I can give you the details and coordinates of her last appearance.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>If you think Daisuke was serious about that… No, he wasn’t. Now that the gate was opened again, even if it’s just a temporary fix, they had resources to now search more about Himekawa, about her story and mostly often, what she wants with a certain digimon named…</p><p>“Meicoomon?”</p><p>When they got that data in hands, they found it odd. Pretty odd.<br/>
But not odd as… The message they got quickly from Gennai after they tried to search for more details about that digimon.</p><p>
  <em>Chosen Children,<br/>
I see you’re searching for this digimon – Meicoomon – which is not an ordinary one.<br/>
It carries a shard of the most powerful enemy the previous Eight had fought before.<br/>
It can destroy the world if fused with a fallen angel form of Ofanimon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I request your help to prevent the Renegade clone of mine, corrupted by Yggdrasil, to put his hands in that digimon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>ENIAC has been down.<br/>
You’re our only hope.</em>
</p><p>That last line, once read by Daisuke caused him such pressure and he had to leave for a while, to take a glass of water. He hated that line now… Every single time he heard or read it, makes him anxious and nervous…! </p><p>Because… He wasn’t sure he could save the world like before.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>• Tokyo Joypolis is in Odaiba, and I have this dummy headcanon that this is one of Daisuke's favorite spots. Yes, it is also related to my HC that Daisuke is a Sonic fan.</p><p>• Yes, Miyako is happy because she got to learn more about Maki... <i>by hacking Maki and the Data Bureau network.</i> And yup, She was shouting a Sailor Moon reference joke.</p><p>• The exchange chat text ahead is early 2005.</p><p>• I won't accept that "Dark Gennai" is the real Gennai. Not when the capsule next to Ken has Gennai there. So yes, accept the theory that Dark Gennai is actually the French Gennai who did not appear in 02 because he was already plotting this with Maki.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Darkness. The four were in the darkness. they opened their eyes, one by one just to find them out in a strange place, nowhere in the Digital World. Why? Because their clothes changed, however those had new colors and patterns.</p><p>Daisuke has a variant of the jacket, but black with blue flames. Miyako got something similar to her regular clothes from her elementary school days. Iori got and upgraded version of his old Digital World outfit. And Ken kept in his middle school uniform clothes.</p><p>“Where are we?”</p><p>“Digital World I guess?” Ken mused.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The name Ken focused on the screen was definitely…</p><p>“Yggdrasil.”</p><p>The group glanced at him, now that Daisuke had returned from calming down. Then, Ken immediately typed ‘i-gu-do-ra-shi-ru’ on the page used to access the digital gate and then they got greeted with some fresh information by Gennai.</p><p>“It’s… a god?” Iori blinked.</p><p>“Named after the Norse ash tree which connect the nine worlds” Ken mused “Our world, the Digital World, The Dark Ocean… There’s still six unknown worlds.”</p><p>“That one we fought BelialVamdemon!” Daisuke babbled.</p><p>“Right… Five.”</p><p>“Do you think… Is it related to something, Ken?” Miyako adjusted her glasses “Like, mr. Gennai had just said… One of his clones were corrupted by Yggdrasil.”</p><p>“Also mentioned some Eniac thing going down” Daisuke added “What does it mean?”</p><p>“ENIAC… The god of the Digital World” Ken sighed, trying to not lose his mind “A long time ago, when I was a kid… I had an adventure with a boy named Akiyama Ryou. He was Osamu’s best friend, so he already knew me.”</p><p>“Oh…? Akiyama Ryou?” Miyako gasped “I think I heard about him before!!”</p><p>“Shall I continue?” And then the rest nodded “We had been there to save the Digital World from Millenniummon, a monster with space-time powers. ENIAC, the god of the digimon, instructed us through Gennai and we fought Millenniummon. But, since Ryou couldn’t evolve V-mon, the same V-mon Daisuke is partnered now…”</p><p>“Wait what?!”</p><p>“… We had to lead an army of digimon Ryou could evolve. We did win, but Millenniummon tried to hit Ryou with a strange data of him… I shoved Ryou aside and it hit me. Thus, the data in me became the Dark Spore and I became the Digimon Kaiser years later.”</p><p>“W-wow…” Miyako exclaimed.</p><p>“Wait… V-mon had ANOTHER partner before me?!”</p><p>“I believe he had those memories sealed” Ken frowned “In my case, I had no idea about Ryou or him until you saved me from the evil forces.”</p><p>“Okay okay!” Miyako interrupted them “So, there’s a digigod who got taken down! And another thing based on a Norse mythology tree… Corrupting Gennai Clones?!”</p><p>“Let’s not forget they’re searching for Meicoomon, just like mr. Himekawa” Iori mused “Those could mean one of those things: One, she’s trying to protect Meicoomon. Or two, she’s trying to help Yggdrasil.”</p><p>“Let’s hope it’s the door number one” Daisuke whined “I’m tired of taking bad decisions here!!”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>And then they kept Maki under surveillance, searched for Meicoomon, and tried to keep everything be natural and normal as possible…</p><p>But somehow, Takeru and Hikari were suspecting of Daisuke’s behavior. At least, thinking he had been ignoring them for an unknown reason. Deep down, they wanted to know but they had no idea how to approach from him. The distancing from each other was good for this mysterious digital being waiting for the next step.</p><p><em> “Meicoomon” </em> Himekawa phoned Daisuke at his way to school <em> “has been spotted at the Kawasaki area.” </em></p><p>“... Fine. We’re going to catch her” He answered, then grabbed his D-Terminal. After finished the message, he stared at the contact names he typed. Takeru and Hikari were after Iori in the box  so he hesitated to send it.</p><p>Instead, he erased Takeru and Hikari names and send the message to the other three only.</p><p>The other three proceeded to move to the area Meicoomon had been seen, only to remember none of them are able to fight a digimon by their bare hands. They had tried in the past, and even in Ken’s case he hadn’t tried to hit any high level digimon with his bare hands.</p><p>“Where she is?” Miyako asked them once the squad gathered in the area.</p><p>“Th-this way!” Iori pointed at the direction they had to take, after seeing an odd Maine Coon running away. They ran after the cat-like digimon, thinking how they could capture it. It would’ve been easier if they had their partners and also Takeru &amp; Hikari’s help.</p><p>Speaking of that… </p><p>“Daisuke, did you call Hikari and Takeru?” Miyako asked him, while they stopped to take a breath. Ken bought them a snack and Daisuke some drinks.</p><p>“I… I didn’t. They missed our meetings, we can send them a long message later and let them on standby. They can contact Taichi and Yamato as backup plan.”</p><p>“Won’t they be mad at us for leaving them out?” Iori wondered, “They never left us out… None of them.”</p><p>“... Maybe we can make it work” Ken commented, “Can you mail them the details later Miyako?”</p><p>“What you mean with ‘later’?! I’m sending it now!”</p><p>Daisuke took a shot of the ice tea from the can and sighed, “I’m an idiot right… We’re skipping classes, with no help of our seniors or Hikari and Takeru… We don’t know what mrs. Himekawa wants with Meicoomon… The Digital World is facing a new threat…”</p><p>“No, we understand” Ken frowned, but inside he knew that Daisuke was avoiding these eight for his own sake. Only Daisuke knows about the regained memories, not the others. He was there wondering if he could tell them, but…</p><p><em> “What is happening!?” </em> <em><br/></em> <em> “Is it a blackout?? What!?” </em></p><p>The power had been down, mysteriously. Daisuke got up from the chair quickly and it fell on the floor. Miyako looked back to the cafe they were at the moment and heard the cafe staff complaining about the power outage. Iori looked at the sky and saw some strange pixelated particles in the air, and the clouds forming in spiral.</p><p>“Daisuke…” Ken tried to call him, but then he saw why Daisuke wasn’t responding. Meicoomon was on the other side of the street, still running from… “Wh-what was that noise!?”</p><p><em> “A monster!?” </em> <em><br/></em> <em> “I thought the monsters were gone!!” </em></p><p>“Daisuke!” the trio called him, and he glanced at them. With a nod of their lead, the group left the cafe and chased Meicoomon, leading to a gate. However, the gate had a strange black armored digimon hand coming out to grab the cat.</p><p>The group tried to catch Meicoomon, but she, in panic, sealed herself inside a forcefield. The hand tried to grab her though, and couldn’t. Daisuke clenched his fist, and looked at the group.</p><p>“Miyako… Call Taichi, Hikari, Yamato and Takeru. They will know what to do”</p><p>“Wha--what do you mean with it? Wait, what are you planning to do!?”</p><p>He looked at them, with a smile but this smile wasn’t a warm and sunny Daisuke smile™, it was....</p><p>“A true hero… has to sacrifice for the others.”</p><p>“WAIT, NO!!” the three shouted as the goggle boy put the goggles back on his head and ran towards the hand, grabbed it by the back and started to shove it back to the gate with no success.</p><p>The hand then retreated and the boy looked back at the others with a thumbs up. But the hand returned again, grabbing Daisuke and starting to pull him to the gate. Ken desperately ran toward the gate, grabbing Daisuke’s arm and tried to pull him from the hand. Once he was losing it, Miyako and Iori grabbed Ken’s arms and tried to boost Ken’s strength.</p><p>It was useless. Meicoomon took that opportunity and fled from the area.</p><p>“I-it’s no use! Go get Taichi and Yamato now!” Daisuke shouted, “You will be dragged in if y’all keep trying to save me…!”</p><p>“We won’t! Leave! You! Behind!” Miyako refused to follow that order.</p><p>“P-pull him…!” Iori had feeling his feet leaving the ground, he was now on his toes.</p><p>The moment the three had felt something lifting them, like someone with psychokinesis were around. Ken looked through the gate only to see a shadow in black robes and hood on. But that distraction was enough to them be all dragged in.</p><p> </p><p>Darkness. The four were in the darkness. they opened their eyes, one by one just to find them out in a strange place, nowhere in the Digital World. Why? Because their clothes changed, however those had new colors and patterns.</p><p>Daisuke has a variant of the jacket, but black with blue flames. Miyako got something similar to her regular clothes from her elementary school days. Iori got an upgraded version of his old Digital World outfit. And Ken kept in his middle school uniform clothes.</p><p>“Where are we?”</p><p>“Digital World I guess?” Ken mused, and then found… “Wormmon?”</p><p>Their digimon were next to the black robes figure. They ran towards their partners with a grin in their faces.</p><p>“V-mon! Is it you!?” Daisuke was almost crying, hugging his precious friend, as the same time Hawkmon was almost choked by Miyako’s glomp. Iori and Armadimon were also in a warm hug.</p><p>“Kenchan!” Wormmon jumped into Ken’s arms “I missed you!”</p><p>“I missed you too,” Ken never had smiled like that for a long time. He glanced at the mysterious man and “Thank you-- Huh?”</p><p>The Mysterious man revealed his face, with a malicious smug.</p><p>“Mr. Gennai?” Iori blinked.</p><p>“Hey why are ya wearing black?” Daisuke questioned.</p><p>“Why are YOU wearing black? Anti-hero huh?” Gennai shrugged “Don’t get me wrong, you four have something I need.”</p><p>“... He’s NOT Gennai” Ken shouted “It’s the corrupted one mentioned in Gennai’s messages!”</p><p>“Too late, boy. Gennai has been replaced by someone more competent for the job.”</p><p>“For the… What job?” Miyako felt unease and regret for her question, but it was too late.</p><p>The man snapped his fingers, a shadow appeared in front of them.</p><p>“To eliminate you, of course.”</p><p>“E-eliminate!?” Daisuke babbled, “Wh-why would--”</p><p>“You learned about master Yggdrasil’s plans. And, about our double agent.”</p><p>“Mrs. Himekawa…?” Iori completely broke with that. Oh he wanted to believe Himekawa lady was a good person… <em> oh how much he wanted. </em></p><p>“It doesn’t matter!” Daisuke hissed, pointing at the corrupted Gennai clone “We’re here with our partners again and we will kick yo butt!!”</p><p>“Yeah!” V-mon snorted, “Daisuke and I will kick yo in the butt!!”</p><p>Dark Gennai began to laugh maniacally, and then…</p><p>“You are no match to Alphamon. Or if you survive, to Ordinemon -- the bringer of the world’s ending!”</p><p>“That must be the digimon mr. Gennai mentioned” Iori mused “We need to… stop them…!”</p><p>“Oh? Will you?”</p><p>“Definitely we will!” Miyako stared at him.</p><p>However, Ken wasn’t convinced that they could win. Three years ago, the original Gennai said the Jogress wasn’t needed and gave the Holy Ring back to Tailmon. But in some important crisis, Jogress was game because of Tailmon using her power to activate it. Hence why Imperialdramon kept appearing in some events, like in the Diablomon’s Counterattack in March 2003.</p><p>But could he tell this to the others, knowing that Daisuke and MIyako are determined, and perhaps Iori is following their enthusiasm…?</p><p>“You’re free to try” Dark Gennai kept that smile in his face and shrugged, “But you’re just four, never reached high evolution levels without cheap tactics like Jogress. Anyway, I will need the Children of Darkness for master Yggdrasil’s plans.”</p><p>“Huh?” Armadimon blinked.</p><p>“He meant Ken. They planned to get Ken” Daisuke realized what it meant, but it was…</p><p>“Too late! I expected to grab him and his miserable obnoxious boyfriend” Dark Gennai gestured to Ken and then to Daisuke. By the mention of boyfriend… <em> Daisuke and Ken blushed with in different intensities. </em> </p><p>“I ain’t obnoxious!” Daisuke protested, “Tch, you can have him or me. We won’t let it happen!”</p><p>“Daisuke, we need to call for the others” Ken grabbed Daisuke’s arm, just like the time they had been fighting BelialVamdemon, “We can’t beat them with a group of adult level digimon…!”</p><p>“I see…” and he glanced at Miyako “Miyako, send a S.O.S message. Now.”</p><p>“We will fight,” V-mon told the children, “No matter what happens, we will protect you!”</p><p>“Miss Miyako, this was a very short re-encounter, but I was thankful to see you again.”</p><p>“We will hold them here while you gather the others, dagyaa!”</p><p>“Kenchan please run faster as you can.”</p><p>“A-are you sure?” Iori’s concerns were visible in his face thanks to that frown “You can’t do that much--”</p><p>The digimon went in Alphamon and Dark Gennai’s direction, But one snap of fingers and Alphamon attacked them with a shot. That made the kids petrified, eyes fixed on their partners falling terribly damaged on the floor.</p><p>Miyako screamed really loud, she was seeing Hawkmon vanish in front of them. Not even BlackWarGreymon was that cruel…!!</p><p>“Well, it ended that fast.”</p><p>“HOW DARE YO--” Daisuke ran against the Gennai clone, ready to throw a punch. But the man used psychokinesis to throw him back to the group, “UGH! You… YOU!”</p><p>“I have no time for playing games. Alphamon, eliminate them. No, scratch that. Maybe we should just… Ah yes, yes that’s a good idea. You four are still useful.”</p><p>“Wh-what do you mean!?” Ken gritted his teeth, as Iori and Miyako helped Daisuke to get up.</p><p>“Sorry, I can’t tell you. It’s a <em> shocking </em> surprise.”</p><p>“H-Huh?”</p><p>Then… Alphamon did it, he attacked the children. Them, with no partners to fight back… The more they tried to resist, the worse those attacks got. And once they all were lying on the ground, badly injured and almost losing conscious…</p><p>
  <em> “Ta--Taichi… He-help… us…” </em>
</p><p>And Daisuke passed out.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The very beginning was written in July 2019 just like the previous. But I changed things past a part and I guess now they're <i>better</i></p><p>• Like I said previously, I searched a bit to make some connection with Yggdrasil to the lore. It kinda fits Hikari's talk about worlds on ep 34, and then talk about how the unbalance of the forces could lead all the worlds into the creation of the world of darkness. So uh... yeah.</p><p>• Daisuke keeps omitting information from the others because he fears the others treating Ken with distrust. And Ken did not give enough details to the others, or to Daisuke.</p><p>• Daisuke's mistake was to not call for anyone's help because of Ken, but they also had the idea of keep the others as backup plan... <i>if MIyako had sent that message.</i><br/>Not stated, but Miyako didn't send that message because the moment sheet went down in Kawasaki she got distracted. However, it is in her drafts.</p><p>• There's no actual and official design for the four, so I just went with my own ideas. The black jacket with blue flames is one of my several variants for Daisuke's jacket.</p><p>• Since the scene (in the movie) lacked the digimon, I assume they were deleted in front of the kids first and then got beaten later. Dark Gennai probably kept them alive just in case of the Eight finding everything out and use them as hostages. Yes, he's a binch.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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